The Wall › Panel 35E › California › Thomas Lee Cottrell
THOMAS LEE COTTRELL
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
September 22, 1947 – January 22, 1968
Service recordThomas Lee Cottrell, of Los Gatos, California, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 22, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 11 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 11
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Mortarman (0341)
- Born
- September 22, 1947
- Home of record
- Los Gatos, California (Santa Clara County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 22, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
13 names on the Wall carry the date January 22, 1968; eight of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 35E, Line 11
- HOWARD LEON JOHNSONCorporal · January 22, 1968
- DALE SCOTT PUISHISSpecialist Four · January 22, 1968
- JAMES TERRY RANSTEADSecond Lieutenant · January 22, 1968
- GARY LEE SAXTONLance Corporal · January 22, 1968
From Los Gatos
- RONALD GLEN SOULESergeant · April 13, 1966
- HARDING EUGENE SMITH SRColonel · June 3, 1966
- HARRY LEWIS MARIONSpecialist Four · January 14, 1967
- RONALD LEE ROGERSSpecialist Four · May 6, 1968
- FRANCIS PETER BRICMONT JRPrivate First Class · May 13, 1968
- RICHARD KENNETH TAYLORCorporal · June 1, 1968
- DENNIS DALE GREERSpecialist Four · March 26, 1969
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.